Clots traveling from lower veins may not be the cause of pulmonary embolism in trauma patients

A report from a team of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) physicians calls into question the longstanding belief that pulmonary embolism (PE) - the life-threatening blockage of a major blood vessel in the lungs - is caused in trauma patients by a blood clot traveling from vessels deep within the legs or lower torso. In their study utilizing advanced imaging technologies, which appears in the October Archives of Surgery, the MGH investigators found no evidence of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in most trauma patients with pulmonary embolism.

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